Ukrainian football stadium submerged under water after Russian attack destroys dam

 Enerhiya Athletics Stadium in southern Ukraine has been left in ruin due to severe flooding after the Nova Kakhovka dam was attacked by Russian forces on Tuesday

A Ukrainian football stadium has been submerged under water following a Russian attack on a dam.

Russia was accused by Ukraine of destroying the Nova Kakhovka dam in the southern part of the country on Tuesday. The Russian-occupied dam and hydro-electric power plant was damaged in explosions, believed to be conducted internally, resulting in large-scale evacuations of the Kherson region.

Over 2,000 people have had to flee their homes with Russian president Volodymyr Zelensky calling the disaster a case of “ecocide”.

The horrendous flooding has seen entire roads and buildings submerged, including a local football stadium and athletics centre.

Photographs emerged showing Enerhiya Athletics Stadium, which was just a few hundred metres away from the dam, entirely flooded as a result of the dam explosion.

Harrowing pictures showed how the pitch was no longer visible, with the dugout fully submerged. The stands and clubhouse were also partially flooded.

The stadium seated 4,000 fans

The ground belongs to Enerhiya Nova Kakhovka, a Ukrainian third division side which was founded in 1952, thanks to the workers who were assigned to building the nearby dam.

It boasted a capacity of 4,000 and remained in use until 2022, when manager Eduard Khavrov announced the club’s dissolution due to the Russian occupation of Nova Kakhovka following the outbreak of war.

The dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station was damaged by an explosion

Kherson has been left decimated by flooding (Image: Global Images Ukraine via Getty)

President Zelensky said hundreds of thousands of people have been left without access to normal drinking water since the breach.

Russian soldiers were reportedly seen being swept away by floodwaters as they attempted to flee the east bank of the Dnipro River on Tuesday. Ukrainian captain Andrei Pidlisnyi said many Russians were killed and wounded as they were seemingly caught by surprise by the actions of their own forces.

Ukraine has warned that a complete failure of the dam could unleash 18 million cubic metres (4.8billion gallons) of water into Kherson and the surrounding settlements.